At stake in this election:      

• The office of President of Greece *

*The election is indirect. The 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon) vote for President. 

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: President Karolos PAPOULIAS (since 12 March 2005)
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Alexis TSIPRAS (since 16 January 2015)
• Assembly: Greece has a unicameral Hellenic Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon) with 300 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is indirectly elected by parliament to serve a 5-year term. 
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the president.
• In the Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon), 288 members are elected through an open-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 12 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms.*

* There is a national threshold of 3 percent. The party or apparentement winning a plurality of votes automatically is awarded 40 seats, and the remaining seats are allocated proportionally among all parties clearing the threshold. The 288 regular seats are divided among 56 constituencies: 48 multi-member and 8 single-member. In single-member districts, elections are effectively by plurality. The 12 State Deputy seats are allocated proportionally from closed lists in a nationwide district. Voters cast ballots only for the regular seats.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: New Democracy
• Leader: Prokopis Pavlopoulos[i]
• Party: To Potami
• Leader: Nikos Alivizatos[ii]

Last election:

• The election is indirect. The 300 members of the Hellenic Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon) vote for President.  In the 29 December 2014 presidential election, the government's candidate for president attained only 168 votes of the 180 needed in the third round.  Now that a new government has formed as a result of the January 2015 Parliamentary elections, the first round of the new presidential election will be held on 18 February 2015.[iii]  To win, the candidate will need to receive 180 votes in the first round.[iv] 

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 10,775,557 (July 2014 est.)[v]
• Registered Voters: 9,951,970 

Gender Data:

• Female Population: 5,509,973 (July 2014 est.)
• Is Greece a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (2 March 1982)
• Has Greece ratified CEDAW: Yes (7 June 1983)
• Gender Quota: Yes. Legislated Candidate Quota: “one-third of political parties’ candidate lists, both for national and constituency lists, must be filled with candidates of each sex.”[vi]
• Female Candidates in this election: No
• Number of Female Legislators 69 (23%) of 300 seats in Greece’s Hellenic Parliament (Vouli ton Ellinon)[vii]
• Human Development Index (HDI) Position: 29 (as of 2013)[viii]
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: None (latest categorizations are from 2014)[ix]

Disability Data:

• Is Greece a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2012)[x]
• Has Greece ratified CRPD: Yes (31 May 2012)[xi]